Raptors’ Fred VanVleet confirms he had COVID-19: ‘I could feel the sickness, I could just feel it in me,’
Guard followed the rules and NBA guidelines, but still caught COVID
A sore back, a sore body, a couple of days with a high fever.
Fred VanVleet had COVID-19 and it was a short-term nightmare.
“I could feel the sickness, I could just feel it in me,” the veteran Raptors guard said Tuesday night. “I could feel it in my bones, in my muscles, in my blood. It just was something that was taking over my body for a short period of time.”
VanVleet knows he was one of the luckier ones. He got through those debilitating days, those 48 hours where it hurt just to be awake, where everything was just “off.” He’s looking forward to be able to resume his career as early as Wednesday night.
He knows that it’s not been that way for hundreds of thousands of others worldwide.
“I wouldn’t wish it on anybody,” the 27-year-old said. “I’m here, I’m alive, I’m breathing.
“I know there are a lot of people that didn’t make it through COVID. My thoughts and heart are with the families and people that have been affected by this thing that weren’t as fortunate as I was, as I am.
“I’m (thankful for) that. I’m just happy to be back with the team right now.”
VanVleet is one of a dozen members of the Raptors entourage — players and coaches — who were hit in the past two weeks by the coronavirus pandemic. He’s the only one who has publicly said that he caught the virus as opposed to having been caught up in contact tracing after coming in contact with someone COVID-positive — none of his teammates or coaches have had a chance to speak with reporters yet — and he wants to make sure no one is ever stigmatized by getting sick.
He said he followed all the rules and protocols and guidelines that are in place and still caught it, and there should no blame or shame placed on anyone in the same situation.
It’s keeping with what he’s always done: VanVleet has spoken consistently about that, that there should be no scarlet letter marking anyone who tests positive, no criticism for how they live their lives.
“It’s such a heavy illness and how it’s affected our world in the last 12 months, that there comes a blame (with it) like it’s anybody’s fault,” he said. “But once you get it, you understand. Like, I don’t know where I got it from. I don’t know who gave it to me or where it came from or what the case is, and the doctors don’t know, and the people who are paid a lot of money to figure this out don’t know.
“People sitting at home or trying to figure it out from far, putting unrealistic thoughts and blame on people, that was a little bit disappointing.”
VanVleet said he is feeling no effects of the illness now and hopes to play either Wednesday in Detroit or Friday in Tampa as the Raptors try to snap a fivegame losing streak and make a second-half push to the NBA playoffs. He was finally cleared medically to take part in oneon-none work in the gym on Monday and flew with his teammates from Tampa to Detroit on Tuesday before getting in his first practice in nearly two weeks.
It was an emotional feeling. “I caught myself walking into the gym just smiling, smiling, like I forgot how much I love this (stuff ),” he said.
“Like, I really love the game, I really love basketball, I really love being in the gym, I don’t always love everything that comes with it, you know what I’m saying, but I really love the game and it’s just a blessing being back.
“I’ve been giving out more hugs in the last 24 hours than I ever have in my life so I’m happy to be back, to say the least.”
There is a chance a handful of VanVleet’s teammates who have been out as long as he has will also be back this week. Pascal Siakam, Malachi Flynn and Patrick McCaw all practised Tuesday and are listed as probable for Wednesday’s game; VanVleet has some heart and COVID-19 tests to pass before he is finally cleared; and OG Anunoby is in Detroit working out but won’t play before Friday.
“I think there’s still protocol, conditioning things that they have to pass and that’s just it,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said. “When it’s your first day back, (you have) to see how everybody reacts to that later tonight and the next day.”
Nurse will have some semblance of a regular lineup to work with, and it will also lighten the mood around a team that’s been struggling more in the last two weeks than it has at any point in the last three seasons.
And it will give VanVleet a chance to recapture the joy he feels playing.
“I’m going to jump in there and if I don’t feel right when I’m out there then you guys will see me walk back to the locker room and I’ll be out until I feel better,” he said.
“But whenever I step foot back out there, I’m going out there swinging, And if I play really bad you guys can write that I got COVID, and if I play good then you got to write and big me up and talk about how great I am. How about that? That’s the deal.”